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Saturday, June 17, 2006

Recap Time!

I had such a good time in Nebraska. Lincoln is a very nice, small town. It's definately a college town too. Even though most of the college kids are gone for the summer, the place was still packed with eager to party college kids.

I got to the airport super early because Janine had to work that evening. I hung out at the airport for a couple hours, picked up a copy of The Broker by James Grisham (very good book, pick it up) and a magazine. I got some coffee and got everything organized as far as all my mail and everything that I had packed. I went to security about an hour before flight to get checked in. I had to take my shoes and belt off and I was randomly selected to get searched. After a refreshing frisking, I got dressed and headed to my terminal.

We took off on schedule and I went to my first connection. After getting lost in that terminal, I found my way to my next flight which was also on time. I forgot how much fun it is to fly, but I'm reminded of what a pain in the ass it can be to fly. I had no problems with the airlines, just with the dipshits that take forever to put their carry on's away and sit down, or with the people who just chose to be assholes to the flight crew. I had my book and my mp3 player, so I was mostly oblivious to the going's onboard.

O'hare was packed! There were a bunch of cancelled and rerouted flights because of some bad weather down south. My flight did take off on time and I got into Omaha super late. I spent a copule hours talking to the night auditor at the hotel. He was a metalhead like me and was telling me that there is very little that comes into town as far as rock acts. I can empathise. Living in Lynchburg as long as I did, I had to drive at least 3 hours to see anything worthwhile.

Early that next morning I was off to Lincoln to join everyone who had gotten there the previous night. The hotel was beautiful. I enjoyed their breakfast and got registered for the conference. The lobby had a small waterfall and a little babbling brook stocked with little goldfishes, the bar was already open and ready for business, and crowds were coming in to see the College World Series which starts today.

I met a lot of nice people at the conference. Many of these people I talked to at my last job, so it was really nice to put a face with the voices. They were also a lot of fun. Each night, the host company had get togethers for us and we all got pretty much wasted. The alchohol was abundant and so was the crazyness.

The host company, Lincoln Benefit Life, were nothing short of gracious and professional. I was very impressed by their operations and I learned a lot about their business and their goals. I was impressed by everyone. I felt welcome and everyone was really friendly with me. I was wearing my Tool shirt one of the nights, so I was the resident rocker guy! The President even noticed and talked to me a little about that the next day. I highly doubt he's a Tool fan, but he was aware of who they are.

The last night, the company had a comedian/hyptnotist come in to entertain us. They had 5 people come up and he put them under. He had them doing a lot of crazy things! He had them dancing, cussing, making obsene gestures, and running around the hotel lobby yelling FIRE! The hotel wasn't too happy about that, but took it all in stride.

They fed us really well up there. They had a mexican buffet for lunch one day and a sandwich/deli bar the next. I ate like a pig. For supper the first night I had Prime Rib and the last night I had Filet Mignon with shrimp and scallops. I don't think I had that much wine in a long, long time. Everything was yummy!

I flew back early yesterday morning and made all of my connections back, same routine, searched at every stop. Janine met me around 9 last night, and we went over to her place to watch Signs and crash. I think I fell asleep right after dinner. She made pot roast and potatoes for me. I dare say that tasted better than anything I had last week, I love home cooking!

I'm back home today to clean up a little (ok, a lot), unpack, and relax. The hot water heater went out on me because when I got in there was a note stating I had a new one. Sure enough there is a brand new super efficient hot water heater in my utility closet. I had the best shower I have had since I moved here. I had no problems with hot water running out after just a couple minutes.

Tonight Janine and I are going to see D Ray and the Shockers and Gorija X at Wonderland. Check my MySpace account out for more details! I hope a lot of people are going to be there. I'm really hoping to have another good time tonight. Eventually, I'll have a quiet peaceful night where I can be super, super lazy. Until then, I'm having way too much fun to care!